Horiba Mira to open advanced new UK battery shaker

Due to begin operations this month (October 2020), the new £1.5m Large Climatic Vibration Laboratory enables battery charging and discharging whilst in use, along with climatic capability, to carry out tests in ambient conditions ranging from -40°C to 100°C.

The twin vibration facility can operate in three axes and has the capacity to vibrate up to one tonne of mass, making it ideal for testing the biggest EV batteries on the market to regulatory standards such as UN38.3 and ECEReg100.

According to Horiba Mira, the key advantage of the new facility is that it can electrically and thermally cycle a battery during vibration testing and is fully programmable to reflect actual vehicle duty cycles – a unique function in the UK that will help provide test results that are representative of real-world conditions.

Another major benefit is that tests that have traditionally been performed individually can now be done simultaneously. This reduces the overall test duration and the number of test samples required, providing the added bonus of lower product development costs.